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Campaign Three: The New Horrors
The party is saved from a Scientarian patrol by Brunhildyr who asks them to travel with her to her family in Quata and investigate the mysterious plague of mental illness there. Session 1 A troop of goblins traveled deep within their cave to escort the pregnant goblins of the tribe to the "Monster Mother", the goblin's take on Lamashtu. At the deepest part of the cave was a 20 ft tall three eyed lagomorpghic creature that did not move. Session 2 The party was saved from a Scientarian patrol by Brunhildyrwho then convinced the party to help her investigate her son's mental illness. On the road to Quata, the party met Crazy Hassan, a used camel salesman; a travelling Varisian caravan; the Humungous Hexapod; Old Man Hodgement, a farmer who told them of a monster on the road and told the legend of the wendigo; Nisha, a mysterious guide who never showed her face; Prabur of the Jotuf, a half-orc mountain guide who offered his services; and Kevin, a cyclops who the party convinced to work for Old Man Hodgement. Session 3 The party sold their used camels and went to Brunhildyr's family's house. The next day they went to visit Brunhildyr's son Dubren in the Sanitorium in Quata. All methods to find out what caused the mental illness were fruitless. The group heard from Dylan Zebullon that some at the university might be willing to attempt magical cures to the mental illness. The group went to the university in order to get information. Sarah Zebullon, a desk receptionist said she would help if the party helped out her son Frank, a goatherd outside Quata. He was having trouble with some wolves eating his goats. The party went to hunt down the wolves and found that they were actually werewolves. Kusetare accidentally mortally wounded one “I am Mathus Romerasu. This is my sister, Cybrisa, and my good friend Rhakis Dorzhanev. We are a peaceful group of werewolves trying to mind our own business. We used to live with the community up in the Whispering Woods but we left when the tribe was hit with a plague of mental illness. We’ve been eating mostly deer, hares and foxes but since Cybrisa is growing with child she needs to eat more and can’t hunt as well. We needed more easy food." The group sent Cybrisa and Rhakis to Old Man Hodgement's Farm. Session 4 The party talked to Rakata Yarsnar and Draco Zebullon, the defunct professors of magic in Quata, who told them that the insanity may be coming from the plane itself. To test this, Rakata said that they needed to send someone insane to another plane for a period of time. The party went of of town and captured an old insane goblin and the chieftess of the tribe who was not insane. The party sent the two goblins to a demiplane chosen by Rakata and Draco. Session 5 The party investigated the recurring figures in black by visiting the church of Iomedae. Great Pontiff Carna Yarsnar told them that people in black often go to the catacombs. The party investigated and found a hidden room used by the Children of Kalderus. The leader of the cult, Rogark Yarsnar, told them the story of Kalderus. He said that they were the "children of Kalderus" and that they would survive the second coming by entering their underground ark. He also mentioned the five Spawn of Kalderus: The Man, the Elk, the Rabbit, the Beast and the Cat. After the group left, they saw Angela Mankard speaking gibberish in the street. She offered Kusetare a hat and he almost went insane. They found Hatter's shop and house and went inside. Inside the rooms became non-euclidean. The party was attacked by a giant tentacled monster so they lit the building on fire and ran away like rational people. The next day they found the Hatter in the marketplace. He offered to have them for dinner at the remains of his house. He ushered them into the basement of the remains of his house. Once inside, he attacked the party. After the party subdued him, he said that, "The Elk is in the sky, the Rabbit is underground, the Beast is in the city and the Cat runs free." He then bit a mercury capsule and killed himself. The party presumed he was the Man. Session 6 The party revisited the Children of Kalderus and Rogark Yarsnar said that the spawn of Kalderus cannot and shall not die. The party then revisited the Hatter's house and checked that his remains were still there. In the Hatter's bed the party found a large green stain. The party took a sample to the University. The party hired 11 Scientarians to assault the goblin cave. The next day the party entered the goblin cave. Kasidrek and Harkalios remained outside the cave. Sasha ordered the scientarians to kill all the remaining goblins. The party entered a room with two pale, jellyfish-like creatures floating gently in the air. Two long eye-stalks extended from either side of their puckered mouths. One of the jellyfish-like creatures spoke via a constant flow of air through tiny pores in its pale body. “Halt heroes and heed my warning! There are sinister things lurking in the folds beyond space and time. A great outside force that is pushing its way back into this plane of existence. The blind eyes of this world see nothing of the horrors to come. Their ears are stopped. They are the god’s fools. This force comes to cleanse them. It comes to cleanse the world of their ignorance and sin. Bathe them in the crimson of their blood. It will burn all that lives on the surface of the world. Don’t take this warning lightly. The ancient one leeches its spawn into this world. They must be crushed and defeated or the force shall gain a foothold in this world. Are you up to this task?” Kusotare answered with an affirmative yes and lead the party onward. He punched through the ground and opened a hole which he lead the scientarians through. Below was the chamber from the dream in the first session with the large rabbit. On a broken panel on the ground was written a set of instructions for a magical procedure. The procedure was written four times, once in Common, once in Dwarven, once in Varisian, and once in Elven. It is titled “An Emergency Procedure to Open the Portal and Send the Spawn Back to the Abyss” The procedure involves reading some spells and activating some runes in four places around the room. When Kusotare and Sasha began to activate the runes, an earthquake began and the Rabbit awoke and began to move. As Kusotare and Sasha activated the runes, the Rabbit engulfed 5 scientarians. Kasidrek and Harkalios fell through the ceiling into the chamber. Once the runes were activated, a portal appeared in the center of the room and appeared to tear through reality. Arcanis attempted to bullrush the Rabbit into the portal and failed. The Rabbit engulfed Arcanis. Sasha attacked the Rabbit with her whip sword and Kasidrek and Kusotare shot at the Rabbit with their crossbow as the Scientarians fired their pistols. Harkalios summoned a drove of rabbits around the portal. Some were sucked into the portal. The Rabbit was angered by the attacks and fascinated by the rabbits. It tripped over Sasha's whip sword and fell into the portal. Sasha jumped into the portal after it to try and retrieve Arcanis. Many small portals opened in the chamber. Two turtles, two cats, two cups of slime, a brick, a flowerpot and some other objects fell out from the portals. Each member of the party heard a voice in your head, whispering directly in their ears, “ Who so Taketh Out This Sword of this Portal, is Chosen Wielder of it and strong he should be. And If he cast this sword away, to him it shall returneth.” The party sensed that the voice was coming from a portal in the middle of the room. A sword was stuck half-way in and half-way out of the portal. The sword had a single-edged blade so slender that it appeared transparent near the end. The weapon was distinctive due to its astral glimmer. Kusotare took the sword out of the portal and he is it the chosen wielder. The party returned to Quata with 6 less Scientarians. Session 7 Harkalios scouted out the Humongous Hexapod. Kasidrek played some music on the street. Kusotare set up a temporary chiropractic business. Brunhildyr visited her son. Dubren had a tentacle growing out of his chest. Conor Yangrit, a physical doctor at the sanitarium said that he could perform a risky procedure to cure Dubren because nothing else worked to cure the other patients. The party and Rakata took the goblins out of the plane and they seemed cured but when they returned the goblins died. Kusotare took them out of their misery. The party moved Dubren to the other plane so he could be cured. As they returned, they investigated Conor Yangrit's house after hearing a noise inside. When they got inside, the house was non-euclidean and Conor Yangrit was draining something from a girl on a hospital bed. Conor Yangrit turned into a Jabberwock, presumably the Beast. The party killed the Jabberwock and it turned back into the doctor. The doctor tried to help the party and gave them some information along with a pencil drawing. The party also saved Mully Sculdox, the girl who was being drained. Session 8 The party talked with Mully who said that she was an investigator hired by an influential member of the Quata government to investigate the insanity. She said she was on the trail of a large feline when she was hit by the insanity. Conor Yangrit had cured her of this insanity. Mully and Hark led the party up a mountain to the Northwest of Quata. Near the top of the mountain was a cave. The party camped outside the cave and went to sleep. The party had a collective dream of a snowy forest. In the forest the party saw the Humongous Hexapod meet with the Wendigo. The Wendigo seemed to be scolding the Humongous Hexapod. The Wendigo sensed the party and went after each individual member. The party member on guard duty at the time woke up anyone that was being chased by the Wendigo because the were running in their sleep. Sasha dreamed of a pink mushroom forest with a Caterpillar-Mully hybrid smoking hookah in it. Sasha converted the Caterpillar-Mully to follow Nalinivati. The next day, the party ventured inside the cave and once inside, a pack of mountain lions attacked. Deep inside the cave, the Humongous Hexapod was sleeping. The party awoke it and spoke with it. It explained that the dream world was a "meeting place" and the his "brother" overpowers him and scares him there. The Humongous Hexapod said that the party might be able to destroy its "brother" by going back to the "meeting place" and doing something there. Session 9 The Humongous Hexapod explained to the party that it would be doing all it could to assist them in destroying his brother. It said that the meeting place was now tied to both their minds and the mind of its brother. The party would be going deep within their own minds and the mind of the Wendigo. It said that what happened in the dream world may or may not happen in the real world. The party fell asleep and entered the meeting place. The place was as before, a cold snowy forest. The only audible sounds were the wind and the sound of snow underfoot. Each member of the party felt alone and saw a shallow pool of water with an image of a different location within. After stepping into the pool of water, each party member made a tough personal choice and dug deeper into the meeting place. After making the personal choice each party member found themselves in a tunnel that tapered off in one direction and headed towards the sounds of conversation in another. The party grouped back up after everyone followed the sounds of conversation. The party then followed the tunnel a bit more and entered a large room with many shallow pools dotted along the floor and organic looking walls. A few party members were entranced by visions of dead loved ones within the pools. The rest of the party was able to save them before they drowned themselves. In the next room, the party found a table with a potion that was labeled and key. Along the floor was a tiny door. Kusotare hit the key off the table and then drank the potion. He grew up to a gigantic size and his head pierced the ceiling which rained down in a white foamy cakey material. Upon eating the cakey material, he shrunk down to the size of the door. After drinking the potion and eating the cake, each party member was able to fit through the door. After that, the Humongous Hexapod appeared in front of the party via a ribbon-like teleportation. He checked in with how they were doing and then left as mysteriously as he appeared. The next room was gigantic. The walls were an organic pale peachy color and spongey to the touch. A few large sucker shapes stuck out off the walls. The main feature of the room was a large grey wrinkley mass in the center of the room. The grey wrinkley mass was presumed to be the brain of the Wendigo meaning the party was in the skull of the Wendigo. The map confirmed this. A voice emanating from the room asked, "Who are you?" reminiscent of the personal choices made by the party. The voice did not speak again but the room began to tilt and medium sized brain creatures emerged from the suckers on the walls. The party fought off the brain creatures and attacked the brain in the center until it bled and collapsed. The party then escaped through the Wendigo's ear. Once in the meeting place, the party waited until they woke up back in the cave. There they spoke with the Humongous Hexapod who was very happy to have its brother taken care of. It then asked everyone to leave his home. The party then explained to the Humongous Hexapod that its existence on this plane could be causing suffering and insanity to the inhabitants of this plane. It was wary of leaving and didn't see any way to do so. The party mentioned that the portal that the Rabbit went through might be able to be used again. The Hexapod was still wary and wanted something to prove that this was in good faith and not a trick to get rid of him. Kusotare offered up his magical sword and the Humongous Hexapod accepted. The Hexapod went through the portal. The party returned to Quata. By the time they reached the town, things were already turning up for the victims of insanity. The Sanitarium was emptying out. Mully disappeared into the town without much goodbye. Rakata and Draco brought Dubren back from the demiplane and he survived the journey. He no longer had a tentacle growing out of his chest. Brunhildyr's family was happy to see her and the party again. Siegfried arrived at the house. Desra felt unwell and went upstairs to lie down. Trigwocket drove up in a steampowered car and gave everyone free pistols from the corporation. The party received a letter from Geylin saying that nuhaven was doing well and that he had gotten a mechanical arm. The party drove off into the sunset and headed back towards nuhaven for a five year rest to heal their mental wounds. Category:Campaigns